Tax hikes prompt health software innovator to flee

By Ray Lilley

Friday 28th April 2000

Eliot Muir

Medical software entrepreneur Eliot Muir has decided to take his internet-based business out of this country and base himself overseas to escape the latest increases in tax rates.

A first-class honours graduate in economics, Mr Muir (28) returned to the country from IT contracting in London to start his high-end medical software development and marketing business.

He can run his internet-based business from anywhere, so the only benefit offered by staying here is "it's a nice place to live."

He said there were no other incentives to remain here when he could work in the northern hemisphere for lower tax costs and less red tape and be closer to his key markets.

"This [IT] industry is very portable, it can be shifted offshore very easily, so the government has to create the right encouragement to retain it."

Lower tax rates, reform of the telecommunications sector to reduce prices, less red tape and encouragement for more venture capital investment were all required, he said.

"I'm not keen on higher taxes, which repel skilled workers who have the option of emigrating."

From a startup incubator business two years ago, he has sold his Health Level 7 (HL7) Interfaceware Chameleon product <www.interface-ware.com> into markets in the US, Canada, Belgium, Holland and Singapore.

Chameleon connects standalone health patient information management systems, allowing them to talk to each other and exchange data.

It can be added on to different operating systems in as little as two hours, a feature that led one customer, the 400-staff Cedara Systems in Toronto, to select it ahead of other options available.

Another customer, the Medstat Group, also bought the product for its more than 200 sites in nine US states. A third deal will see Chameleon rolled out in 1000 new Linux-based boxes worldwide.

HL7 systems are being adopted and established in many countries, including New Zealand. There are 1500 official HL7 members in the US, many representing companies with hundreds of sites.

Able to connect new and heritage sites, Chameleon has what is known as 100% "backward compatibility" so that as technology changes it can be adapted readily.

Mr Muir's company has already set aside R&D funding to allow the development of new spinoff software products over the coming year.

He said after a year on the market, the product is over the early adopter phase and starting to generate real interest and significant sales with its stability, ease of use and need for little support.

"More and more companies are feeling comfortable about dealing with a foreign [New Zealand] company and accepting that email support actually works quite well, as opposed to an on-site presence."

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